Twitter~

Just wanted to show what I've been reading lately. It's actually been a good while since I've really read anything, and it's pretty much the first time I've read any sort of serious faith/lifestyle books.

I got both of these from the Women's Retreat...

So far I've completely read "The Eve Factor" by Bishop Steve Walters, who is an amazing, amazing AMAAAAAZING and anointed man of God. He was one of our speakers during the retreat and the first second in you can tell he was so full of energy and love of the Lord. Some people need warm-ups when they teach or preach but from the moment he walked up to the podium he had that pep in his step, that life in his voice and the whole workshop was just phenomenal. The main metaphor used in his book is the perfume concept, which was used as the theme of the Women's Ministry this year-- "The Fragrance of a Godly Woman". A lot of his comparisons deal with the 'scent' or aura of a balanced, confident, beautiful woman, and her 'bottle' (or being) being empty or full when it comes to what she 'pours' herself into.

This book basically concentrates on improving the relationship of any male/female relationship, whether it be significant others, family members or friends, but most importantly building the woman's self-image up. Bishop Walters uses his experience and his love for women (having grown up all around them) to expose a lot of problems women face as far as self-image-- not only with low self-esteem, but some women pouring out so much of themselves to the point where there's no more to give. He gives advice for men and women to recognize the issues that may arise due to this type of physical/mental/emotional/spiritual exhaustion and how to effectively deal with them in a gentle and supportive manner.

It's a really good book and I was definitely able to connect with it. I can get more in-depth about it when I bring up the workshops later. I hope to give it to my best friend once I fully soak everything in because I think that it'll really help her with spiritual edification.

The other book, the one I'm currently reading is "The Fabric of a Woman" by Pamela Hines. Very similar subject except of course, this is coming from a woman-- and as the title suggests, the woman is compared to fabric. The author pushes the message of investing in yourself as a woman, body, soul, and spirit, for God. She touches on image issues, seeing and making yourself open to what God wants to use you for, and pushing the importance of extensive care because we definitely need it. From dieting, R & R, body language, renewing one's mind, controlling emotions, to developing and strengthening prayer life and strengthening your spirit, this woman talks about it all. I'm only halfway through but I hope to finish it very soon to talk about it.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I do online surveys to earn crap. I usually use all my 'earnings' on Gamestop gift cards so I can save money on video games and stuff, but this time around I decided to use a bit on a 1-year subscription to Martha Stewart's Living. I always saw that some wedding references go back to Martha's work, so I decided to just wing it and collect some magazines.

Martha's magazines were always full of inspiration for lifestyle related things, especially home decor and social gatherings. The food displayed always look scrumptious... the floral designs exquisite with table decor to match... it really brings life to a simple dinner table and so I wanted to become more familiar with simplicity, and not only the OTT-style that people like Preston Bailey tend to do (which is fine... I just tend to have my head in the clouds when I think of parties LOL) . Certain features get in depth, especially when it comes to spices, or like in this issue it talks about different species of roses, and in my most recent issue it talks about the different species of berries.

Hopefully, in due time I'll be getting into more study books, taking in as much as I can so I can apply it all in the future.